Pour the still-hot jam into the jars (don't forget to drop a kernal into each jar!). Turn the bottle upside down- I'm not really sure why we have to do this, but Jens said to do this, so I followed suit. It probably has something to do with the air pressure to get it to properly seal.

Fill all jars, and set timer to five minutes.

Flip them right side up after five minutes. Jens said that we are supposed to hear a POP! sound when the jars seal, so I waited... and waited... and waited for this sound. Oh, the torturous waiting!!!

These jars had the safety button seal on them- so when the button is pushed down, it means they're sealed, up means they are not. At first, it was impossible to push the button down- there was too much pressure in the jar. Let the waiting begin!

Of course you can start cleaning up the hideous mess you've made in the kitchen to stave off your (erm, my) impatience.

According to Jens, if the jars don't seal within twenty minutes, they won't seal at all and you're shit out of luck. FUCK THAT!!! Not a POP! was ever heard, but as they cooled down (after about an hour or two), finally some of the buttons stayed down after I tried pushing them down. Some of them stuck, some of them popped back up. I would try this ever couple of hours, and a few more would stick, thank god. It actually was kinda fun, me against these jars- I was on a mission!!!

DISCLAIMER: I do not know whether me pushing down on the buttons actually means they've sealed properly. I've researched this extensively and I can only presume this is correct.

The next morning, there were two rogue jars that just refused to seal. So I did some research and with the help of my mama, I tried this trick to reseal the jars.

Put the jam-filled jars in a pot and fill with water to about half the jar's height. The lid should be loose. Once the water boils, turn on your timer for 15 minutes.

Take jars out after 15 minutes, be careful it's HOT! Fit the lid tightly on the jar, and turn upside down, as you did before. Wait five minutes, turn right side up. Wait...

Wait until it cools down and try pushing the button down. Did it work??? If not, do this process again until the button finally goes down. I had to do this twice!!! UGH!!!

But I did it!!! I filled and sealed ten jars of my debut line of UMAMIMART jams! HOLLER!

As you can see, there's a lone jar up in the corner there that refused to seal. HUFF. But all the others are fine- there's the regular apricot, the rosemary-apricot jam, and I also just bottled the apricot syrup too. Do you like my attempt at branding???

Mucho thanks to Merriberry for the apricots, and Jens for his family recipe. I'll be raiding Merriberry's mom's fig tree soon, so I'll try jamming that next! All in all, I love the concept of taking fruit that may have gone bad and preserving them. Project Save Fruit!

Thank you for saving me! I spent all day making 8 jars of Apricot Jam and only 3 of them sealed. I used your method for the stubborn 5 and voila! Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping! I’m feeling quite proud of myself (this being my first time and all…)
Have a wonderful Summer!..Barby SLO, CA